Shimmer
by Colette Laner
Summary: Chloe loves Clark, but she slowly begins to let go when she sees a connection between Clark and Lana. CLARK/CHLOE


Shimmer

Written by Colette

Note: 'CRUSH' spoilers

Synopsis: Chloe loves Clark, but she slowly begins to let go when she sees a connection between Clark and Lana. CLARK/CHLOE

+++ 

The rain drenched Clark's hair; she didn't know why he didn't have an umbrella. It didn't quite make sense, but she didn't bother to offer him her umbrella. She didn't want to talk to him at the moment; if she spoke she knew that her throat would cause her voice to have a scratchy noise she had when she was feeling down. Down and low.

And at the moment she was feeling quite down, quite low. She tossed a quick side-glance to Clark; he just stood there mindlessly, staring at Lana who was at Whitney's side. Clark stared at Lana for a while and Chloe could clearly see that Lana looked as if she felt stuck in a place she couldn't get out of. Normally she would have laughed at her and her place of standing, but she could also see that Clark had the same look as her.

  
Chloe began to feel irritated, stupid Clark. If he was going to go and still like Lana, why did he bother asking to go out with her in the first place? She felt a gnawing feeling in her stomach, she didn't like to the runner-up. Just because Lana is with Whitney and taken, it didn't mean he could just go to a second place.

Turning around and walking away, Chloe got fifteen steps away before she turned around once more to see Clark and Lana still staring at each other in that "Romeo-Juliet" way. Star-crossed lovers. Chloe snorted at that idea, and though she constantly reminded herself that she was and should feel angry at feeling second place, she felt another feeling.

She could feel her heart break in two.

+++ 

It had been three months since Whitney's father's funeral, three months of going out with his best friend. Clark had still harbored feelings for Lana, the beautiful, petite, dark-haired girl that was by Whitney's side when she didn't want to be.

He could tell she didn't want to be by his side, she even told him that in one of their many conversations. Sometimes he just wanted to pick her up and sweep her away and get away from Smallville forever. They would live together in Metropolis in a small apartment and get married, maybe have a kid or two, in time.

Clark got out of the old beat down car and walked towards his house until he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

A familiar smell drifted to his nose, he could smell better these days. The smell was of strawberries, lotion, perhaps. He could also smell a tinge of peach papaya; he turned around towards his barn.

He opened the door and there was Chloe, lying on the hay.

Her big green eyes were looking at the high ceiling, normally they were bright but instead they were a dull green. She didn't even turn her head to look at him.

Clark studied her and then drew in a deep breath. He had never seen her look so beautiful, he had never seen anyone look so beautiful to him. At the moment, she seemed to be more beautiful than Lana. And that in itself was amazing.

Chloe was wearing the pink dress that she had looked at for such a long time. The pink dress was on her and she was wearing make-up that accented her features. Her hair was put up in a bun, and her eyes were so green. So green.

Clark walked over to her and sat down next to her, she was breathing quietly. He looked at the ceiling before he heard her utter words.

"We… I… we can't do this anymore."

Her voice was dull. She finally got her eyes away from the ceiling and looked at him, no expression in her eyes.

"Clark, look at me."

  
So he did. And he swallowed, he didn't know what she was talking about and yet he did know what she was talking about.

"What?" His word was small, he wasn't sure if he really wanted to lose her. He didn't know anymore.

"Listen to me, listen to me speak. We can't do this anymore." Her voice was final.

He coughed, "What do you mean?"

She looked back up at the ceiling, her eyes tearing up.

"Three months… Three months…" she mumbled quietly. "This dress," she waved a hand to her attire. "I though it could change things, I thought… so stupid…" She looked back at him.

Her voice sounded dry. "It's just a dress."

He wasn't quite sure what to do or what to say.

"So stupid… this dress… Everything. I thought, maybe if I was more like _her_, you'd like me better or something like that…" Chloe's voice seemed to trail off and Clark's eyes started to tear. He didn't really know why, he just knew and felt something indescribable.

"Just maybe, just maybe you'd look at me _that_ way. The way you look at _her_. But I'm stupid. Of course you don't see, of course you didn't notice." Chloe sighed.

"I thought, when you first held my hand, you'd think of me the way you thought of _her_. I thought, this," Chloe motioned the space between her and Clark, "would end. I thought… so stupid…"

"I don't want to be a runner up. You don't love me. And I'll never, ever, ever get you. So I'm not going to try anymore," Chloe murmured.

She turned her body away from him, "I don't think… we should see each other. I don't think… we should be friends. I don't want to talk to you anymore Clark."

And then Clark's world fell down on him as he realized what she was saying.

For the first time in his life, Clark wasn't sure how to react. He didn't want to lose her, but he didn't know what to do. She seemed so lost, so he stayed quiet and closed his eyes. Tears silently ran down his cheeks but he didn't notice.

He could hear rustling next to him and the fabric of the dress brushed against his hands, soft and flimsy. He closed his eyes tighter as he heard her footsteps, out of the barn.

Out of his life.

+++ 

One, three, four months since Chloe left Clark.

She was considering moving back to Metropolis; lately Smallville was just a reminder of her love for Clark. She wouldn't-couldn't-talk to Clark. She wouldn't even talk to Pete; she decided to drop them out of her life.

She didn't need them, she didn't need anything.

"Daddy, I want to go back to Metropolis," the words slipped out of her mouth as she was getting cereal from the cupboard. "I don't like it here."

Her father looked up at her from his newspaper, his eyebrows raised. "What about your friends here? What about The Torch?"

Chloe shook her head, "I don't have any friends here. I'm sure there's newspaper back at home, back at the high schools there."

"Chloe, I work here, we just can't move back," Gabe Sullivan looked back at his newspapers.

Chloe looked up at him. "Can I stay there at least for the summer? I have nothing to do here. I hate it here."

Gabe sighed, finally giving in to his daughter's request. "Fine, you can go to Metropolis over the summer."

Chloe smiled. Soon enough she'll convince him to let her stay in Metropolis for the rest of her high school years. She'd go somewhere away from Smallville for college anyway.

+++ 

Chloe waited impatiently for the 'walk' light to flash, she started clutching her fists as the 'don't walk' light kept on flashing over and over again.

"God damn, why's it taking so fucking long…" Chloe muttered under her breath, in one hand was a shopping back, a bag over one shoulder, and her other hand clenched tight in a ball.

The 'walk' light flashed.

  
"About goddamn time," Chloe sighed and walked.

"Miss! Run!" A voice broke into her train of 'goddamnits' and 'goddamns' when she was in the middle of the cross walk.

Chloe turned around to see a handsome blonde with striking green eyes. Her mouth opened to say something but she heard a noise of a truck, she looked to her side and her eyes grew big.

Chloe jumped.

And yet the truck still ran over her docile body.

There was never a scream.

+++ 

Clark walked quickly through the hospital, he heard from Lana and Pete that Chloe was in the hospital. They said she was run over by a truck, coma.

She was in a coma, weren't sure if she was going to wake up ever again.

He rushed to her room and whisked the door open.

And there she was, lying in the bed, her eyes shut.

He looked at her and a lump settled in his throat, his eyes began to tear and he walked towards her slowly. Clark sat down next to her on the chair.

His hands found a way to her hands and unraveled fingers to intertwine his.

"Chloe…" his voice was choked up. "I … should have been there. I should have been there to save you."

He lowered his head down.

He should've been there, he should've ran up to her and pushed her out of the way. He should've been with Chloe.

If they were still together, hell, if they were still friends, Chloe would've never had gone shopping in Metropolis by herself.

He would've been there.

He should've been there.

"Chloe…" tears started to run freely.

He brought her hand up to his cheek, then down to his mouth and kissed it.

"I… can't lose you. I can't lose you, I should've been there. Don't leave me." His voice sounded like a little child's, as if he had lost his favorite doll.

"I don't care about Lana, I love you."

He closed his eyes and remembered her staring at the barn ceiling. He could still smell her distinct strawberry and peach papaya scents.

"I need you."

He opened his eyes, she looked so small and frail in the bed, her skin was white. So goddamn white.

"I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you. I love you." Clark mumbled incoherently over and over again to himself, his words not quite tangible.

"I love you I love you IloveyouIloveyouIloveyouIloveyou." Maybe if he said it over and over again she would wake up.

And then her eyelashes fluttered for a moment, as if she wanted to open her eyes but couldn't.

Her eyes opened to reveal big green eyes. Green. So green. He loved her eyes, when he looked at them he felt like he could look at them forever. Her eyes made him feel strong.

Her eyes stared at the ceiling, than drifted to him.

"Clark?" Her voice was light, almost inaudible. 

He looked at her, his eyes big. "Oh god… Chloe, I love you. I'm so sorry; I should've been there. I love you, I love you, I love you."

Chloe didn't smile, she just stared at him. She gave him her dull look, the one where her mind wasn't quite there, the one she used when she broke up with him.

"Clark, but you don't love me. You don't. I can't handle this. I don't want to see you."

  
Clark shook his head and kissed her hands.

  
"I love you, Chloe, I can't live without you. I can't breathe without you. I need you." His eyes were moist.

She tipped her head, "Well what do you want me to say?"

"Say you'll love me, say you'll give me another chance."

Chloe looked at him. "Why? So you can go back to Lana when you get tired of me? What's the point Clark, we're not meant to be. I'll never be _her_, it's not worth trying."

"I don't want you to be her, I don't care about her. When I heard you were gone, all I could think about was when you feel when we were back Lex's house. I was so scared, I was so scared, I didn't want you to die then, I don't want you to die now. If you leave me, it's the same thing as you dying. Please…" His voice trailed off to nothingness.

"I… don't know."

Clark looked at her pleadingly, and then he thought of something. He picked her up in his arms, she was so light. She was so light. He loved it.

Chloe's arms flailed into the air, "Clark! What are you doing!?"

He smiled at her, "I'm going to prove to you my love."

Chloe's eyes were big.

Clark walked towards the windows, opening them. He walked backwards, getting ready to run. Chloe's eyes grew even bigger as she realized what he was about to do.

"Clark! Don't you dare! You said you loved me!"

"Trust me."

"What's there to trust when I'm _DEAD_!"

Clark ran and jumped into the air, he flew high and at such speeds that no one saw them.

Chloe's eyes were closed, she was ready to scream, but there was no fall.

She opened her eyes and there was Clark looking down at her lovingly.

"Oh_my_god." She looked down to see the hospital and a few other cluttered buildings, she could even see her house from here.

Chloe looked up at Clark. She took a big breath in. "Clark, you're…" she put a hand on his cheek.

He leaned in to her and kissed her.

It wasn't the first time they kissed, and it for sure wouldn't be the last, but it felt like they were living eternity in that one moment.

As Chloe sat on Clark's lap, they watched the sunset and Clark told her about his story.

And she smiled, letting the breeze play with her now chest-length hair. She looked up at Clark.

"I could stay here for the rest of my life…" she murmured as Clark kissed her neck.

"Only if you were here with me," Clark replied as his mouth moved up to her lips.

"I love you Clark," Chloe sighed, she was in heaven.

"I love you Chloe." And for the first time, Chloe believed him truly, and she no longer felt like the runner-up. She no longer felt resentment for Lana Lang. She didn't care anymore. All that mattered was that she and Clark were both there and that they were both in love with each other.

"I know."

+++ 

"You want to do this for sure Chloe?" Clark asked, his grip on Chloe's shoulders were firm yet gentle.

Chloe nodded, she moaned. "That feels so good, you should massage people for a living."  
  
Clark picked her up, his cheeks were tinted red.

Chloe looked at him bashfully, she, like him, was just as shy about doing this.

She slid off her shirt, and then she slid off her skirt.

Clark looked down, then up. His eyes traveled up and down her body and she became self-conscious.

She blushed.

"You're beautiful. You were always beautiful."

"Thank you, Mr. Kent," Chloe said in her most seductive voice. She put her hands under his shirt and slipped it off.

Her hands rested on his chest, her eyes couldn't resist looking at his perfectly formed muscles.

"It's a shame that you never show this to anyone," Chloe drew out in a whisper.

Clark smiled, "It's a shame _you_ never show yourself to anyone. You're body is nicer and more shapelier than Lana's, trust me."

Chloe scrunched her nose up, "I don't care anyways, but it's nice to hear that from you. I'm thinking of getting my hair cut, what do you think? I haven't cut it for like a year and half, it's gotten long." Chloe changed the subject, a bit uncomfortable talking about Lana's body while she was half-naked and about to get deflowered by the man she loved.

Clark laughed at her blunt and obvious change. "I like it long, maybe it'll get as long as Lana's one day." He seaid teasingly.

Chloe looked at him with mock rage. "Clark Kent! That was cruel! I am going to have to punish you for that!"

"Go ahead, give it your best shot, Ms. Sullivan," Clark said mischievously.

Chloe stared at him for a while, he was so beautiful. His eyes bored into hers, she put a hand on his hair, running it in and out of his gorgeous locks.

"I love you."

Clark smiled, "You always did. I love you too."

Chloe stood on her toes as Clark kissed her on the lips.

His hands ran up and down her back, she shuddered at the feeling. Clark picked her up in his arms as they kissed and led her to his bed.

"I love you so much," Clark said as he looked at her, he looked in her eyes. Her green eyes. He smiled.

"You're so beautiful," he kissed her again and his hands began to undo the clasp on her bra.

"Mmm… Love you Clark," she said through the kiss.

  
She opened her eyes and broke off the kiss.

"Whatever happens after this," she paused, "I don't know. I love you so much Clark, I just want to be with you forever."

Clark looked down at her. "Me too."

  
He smiled, "Forever."

Clark liked the sound of it, forever that was. Forever sounded nice with Chloe.

+++ 

Chloe looked at the small plastic stick, her head began to get light and she felt dizzy.

Positive.

She threw up.

Positive.

The acid in her mouth burned her tongue.

Positive.

  
Her eyes closed tightly and tears threatened to fall.

Positive.

What the hell was she going to do?

+++ 

"Clark…" Chloe's voice was small, her legs swung. She looked up at him, he could see her tears.

"What's wrong?" he asked immediately.

"I… I… I'm pregnant." Her voice was guilty.

Clark looked at her for a moment.

"You… you're… We're going to be parents?" Clark seemed more excited.

Chloe stared at him. "Clark! I'm only _seventeen_, I can't get pregnant!" She looked at him, her eyes big. "My dad's going to _kill_ me! What am I going to do?"

Clark looked at her lovingly, "We'll figure it out. We'll figure it out, don't worry."

Chloe sighed, she gave in. If Clark said it could happen, he could make it happen. It surprised her sometimes, how much faith she had in him.

"I'll love you always, whatever happens," Clark said to her reassuringly.

"I'm not worried about htat." Chloe smiled as Clark lifted her into his arms.

"Good."

+++ 

"Dorian."  
  
Clark didn't move his eyes from the baby book, Chloe's head was upside down as she said it. Her body was on the hay stack and she hung her head upside down to be closer to Clark.

"Hm?" he flipped the page of the book.

"What do you think of Dorian for a boy."

Clark looked up, and then to her. He smiled and shut the book.

"That's perfect. Perfect," he murmured to himself. "Dorian Kent or Lynn Kent. Perfect."

Chloe smiled, than looked at her watch.

"My doctor check-up is today, you gonna pick me up?" Chloe asked teasingly to Clark.

Clark smiled, "Of course."

"Okay, I gotta go now, love you," Chloe pecked Clark on the cheek and started to wlak until Clark took a hold of Chloe's hand and swung her back towards him. He gave her a full kiss before he let were walk out of the barn.

"Love you," he cried out after her.

She looked back at him with a smile. "I know, I know."

+++ 

"Hm? Yeah, yeah…" Clark held the phone to his ear.

"Is she okay?" His voice as filled with concern.

The other end of the line was silent.

"I'll be right there."

+++ 

Clark rushed into the hospital room in which his future wife was in, this reminded him of the time she was in the coma. He was so worried, so worried.

He opened the door, and there she was.

A lump formed in his throat.

Clark walked over to her and held her hands, her cold hands. Unlke the time she was in a coma, her hands were cold. Her hands were cold.

Tears started to form in the corners of his eyes.

"C-C-Chloe…"

He felt so weak, he felt so weak around her… in fact, he was starting to get a pain in his stomach.

Clark went out of the room, to the doctor.

"What happened to her?" he asked.

"We… we found drugs in her body, poison. And some unknown substance, it killed the baby. I believe it was from the meteor site…"

Clark went back to her room. His eyes burned with hatred.

He held her hands again, no wonder he felt so fucking weak. Someone murdured his child and his fiancé.

He massaged her hands in his own, trying to get some warmth from her. His knees felt weak and he was in pain, but he didn't care. Tears burned his cheeks, but he didn't care. His love was dead. His love was gone forever.

And then he felt it.

Clark stopped massaging. He looked down at her hands, on her left hand to be specific.

It had a small indentation in it, as if someone had shot something in her. And it glowed green a little.

Suddenly the pieces fit.

He knew who.

Clark stormed out of the hospital.

+++ 

"Mr. Luthor, you have a visitor," a petite brunette said as she entered the office of Alexander Luthor.

"Yeah, hold on," Lex took the phone away from his ear. "Who is it?"

"A Clark Kent."

"Oh, send him away," Lex said as he put the phone back to his ear.

"Why'd you do it?"

"Actually, I'll get back to you later," Lex hung up the phone. "Well if it isn't my favorite father-to-be, how's Chloe and your child?"

Clark walked up to him and slammed his fist down, "WHY'D YOU DO IT?" he yelled, anger apparent in his voice.

Lex looked at him.

"Do what?"

"You … killed her… you poisoned my child."

"What did I do? How did I do that?"

Clark looked at him with fury. "One day Lex, one day…"

Clark left the room.

Lex stared back at him with a triumphant smile on his face. "All in due time… Clark. All in due time…"

+++ 

"Are you sure you want to leave?" Martha looked at her son.

"Yeah, Mom," Clark said as he picked up his bags.

"I love you Clark," Johnathan said. "I don't exactly approve of what you're going to do, but make sure you visit us often."

"I will, I love you too dad."

"Clark! We'll come visit you often."

  
"I know Mom, I know. I'll invite you over and you can come over whenever you want."

Martha's eyes teared, "Oh Clark, what are you going to do when you get there?"  
  
Clark looked at her.

"I've been thinking about journalism. You know, join a newspaper."

He smiled and walked out of the door, and when he walked out of the door, he left behind his life. He left behind his first love and his first true hatred in Smallville.

He left behind Smallville, took one step forward and never looked back.

He couldn't.

+++ 


End file.
